Silencers have been the hot item this year. We seem to finally be reaching a tipping point where gun mufflers have lost their stigma — be it financial, legal, or just pure reputation — and are truly something that every gun owner can purchase. With most suppressor companies focusing on the 9mm and .308 versions of their products, SilencerCo has brought out something truly new and innovative — their Salvo 12. And due to the landslide victory it won in the accessory division of our 2014 TTAG Reader’s Choice Awards (with more than twice the votes of the next most popular item) it looks like our readers agree. Make the jump for the press release that started it all . . .

WEST VALLEY CITY, UTAH – July 21, 2014 | Confirming its place as a trailblazer in the firearms industry, suppressor manufacturer SilencerCo has unveiled the first commercially-viable shotgun silencer ever produced. The company made the announcement today at an exclusive event near its Utah headquarters.

Every year, millions of sportsmen and women venture into the field to hunt. While advances in technology have spurred a record-breaking proliferation of rifle and handgun suppressors, shotgun owners have been without a real solution for sound protection. Some choose hearing protection in the form of earmuffs or plugs for relief in controlled environments, but most spurn their use in the field or in a home protection scenario, where the ability to detect other sounds is critical.

The new product, named the Salvo 12, provides a much needed option for shooting enthusiasts.

“The Salvo 12 represents a revolution in silencers, not just an evolution,” asserts Joshua Waldron, Chief Executive Officer for SilencerCo. “There is a huge installed base of shotgun hunters and shooters that has been waiting for a product like this for a long time, and we are proud to deliver it.”

In addition to its inherent novelty, the Salvo 12 is a modular design that allows the shooter to add or remove sections to balance length, weight and sound suppression needs. It arrives as a 12 inch suppressor, but can be reduced to 10, 8 and 6 inch configurations as needed.

For SilencerCo, answering the call for new products is nothing new. Since its origins in a Utah garage in 2008, the company has earned a fiercely loyal customer base by pioneering much-needed advances such as this. Among many others, its first and best-selling product, the Sparrow 22, is the quietest and easiest-to-clean rimfire suppressor on the market. The Osprey pistol suppressor still holds the only eccentric design in existence, allowing the host gun to maintain a flat sight plane.

Adding value to the sale, the Salvo 12 will carry with it the same celebrated lifetime warranty as all other SilencerCo products. To learn more or to find out how to purchase a SilencerCo Salvo 12, visit www.silencerco.com/salvo.

TTAG Readers’ Choice Awards methodology

The poll was conducted using a custom polling application which presented each respondent with a list of options for each category. Respondents could either select from the list, choose not to respond, or add an additional option at the bottom. Any added items would be displayed to all subsequent respondents (any item worthy of “Item of the Year” would, in theory, be added fairly quickly by respondents). Items which were not relevant (outside the time frame or irrelevant responses, like “my homemade ammo” for best ammo of the year) were periodically removed, and all associated votes for that item in that category were eliminated as well. Respondents were discouraged from voting multiple times by having their IP address recorded and banned from making subsequent responses. The polling period lasted 7 full days and elicited 1,104 responses.

For a lot of these, I’ve found myself fairly curious as to what the runner-up and maybe even ‘bronze medalist’ was in the categories. Nick, are we going to be posting that info in a summary piece at some point?

Seems like perhaps guys who haven’t seen it, mock it, but those who tried it at the Texas Int’l Firearms Festival raved about it. I remember when it was first introduced, the most prevalent question here on TTAG seemed to be “why?” But all I can say is those who got their hands on it and tried it, loved it.

This! I was thinking the same until I tried one at TIFF. It was a revelation! Yes, it has a noticeable pendulum effect if you swing the shotgun from side to side, but it was incredibly effective at muffling the blast and sound from that 12 ga.